People of the Office - Go to food items?

vmbourg

I work in an office. Perfect access to a fridge. I bring items to cutup a fresh salad for lunch most days, hit the gym, and just eat at my desk. I eat a protein bar for breakfast with my coffee. And my go to snacks are plain greek yogurt(I add a tad of honey), apples, 1/2 banana. But I am getting bored , and really want to find a way to fit more protein and less fatty snacks in my diet. (Nuts used to be a go to but I keep overshooting my daily fat %). I usually don't mind bars and other prepackaged snacks, but I am really trying to change my diet to include more freshness!! Any tips? What do you guys eat in the office area?

Thanks- Victoria

KarenSmith2018

Celery pepper and cucumber with a bit of humous.
I have a carefully weighed out quantity of nuts and dried fruits.
Meridian peanut bars/battleoat bars
Granola and yogurt
Small bags of popcorn, rice cakes etc
Dry cereal
Think they are all my usual go to.

inertiastrength

I went on this 2 week chicken salad kick. Sistema has a really nice salad container that I was more excited to buy vs actually prep the salads but, THAT SAID, I made some really lovely lunches. I only eat about 115-130g chicken at dinner and one breast is about half that so I'd cook extra and when I was making my dinner salad I'd toss some extra veggies in a container, add the cooked chicken and make a tidy little package to have at work.

I'm back on the Wendy's chili daily though, in the interest of full disclosure. Containers still super cute lol

work_on_it

I've been doing hard boiled eggs. Sometimes i'll chop them up with a tablespoon or two of greek yogurt or cottage cheese so its like egg salad. Put it on celery sticks or lettuce. I've also done some salami slices rolled around a strips of cheese. That one is a little fatty - but the flavor is really good.

timtam163

Last week I washed a bunch of mini bell peppers and dipped em in hummus all week. Crackers, cucumber slices, and hummus also work.

lemurcat12

vmbourg wrote: »

What do you guys eat in the office area?

I don't snack, I just have lunch. I often do the salad with protein option but change the salad and the protein so it's not boring. I also bring leftovers as lunch a lot -- sometimes for microwaving (do you have a microwave), sometimes not -- lots of things I like cold.

stanmann571

Nuts... and don't worry about the macro split.

Sharon_C

Chicken salad
Chicken sandwich (I make a huge batch of chicken on Sundays, shred it, and mix it up with different things)
Almonds
Greek yogurt
Hillshire makes these awesome protein packs with beef jerky and cheese
I have a package of beef jerky in my desk drawer and sometimes snack on that in the afternoon
protein bars
hard boiled eggs

ew_david

At first glance, you're eating a lot of snacks rather than an actual meal. Last week I made a chicken enchilada casserole and ate that. I often prep a protein in the crockpot on Sunday for the week; buffalo chicken, pulled pork, the above-referenced casserole, just to name a few. Sometimes I make protein pancakes and take those to work. It's all about planning and prepping.

rachel780mpg

I keep a dozen eggs in my work fridge. I've mastered the art of hard boiling, poaching, and scrambling all in the microwave. I also bring carrots and peppers with hummus or pico de gallo.

Bianca42

While I have access to a fridge at work, I bring just the day's lunch and snacks every day. If I brought enough for the week on Monday, I'd eat it all by Wednesday and then eat out Thursday and Friday. So, everything is in serving-sized containers. I do:

cottage cheese
yogurt
berries
grapes
carrots and hummus (or whatever veggie sounds good)
sugar snap peas
hard boiled eggs

skatardrummer

The problem with snackey foods like granola and even protein bars, they are very high in carbs or sugar, and when you don't burn carbs as energy, they actually cause excess fat storage. It's really bad for us who sit all day and aren't burning it. With that said, the body still needs carbs because the brain runs on glucose...but too much isn't good for us either. Look for things low in processed sugars and carbs. Veggies are great, watermelon, berries, are all some of the best according to the nutritionist. I also eat Hard Boiled eggs in the morning, but only 1-2 a day. Unsalted nuts in small amounts. Watch your dipping sauces too. I found out I needed to stop eating my salads with ranch...even light ranch. It was costing me way too many calories. I also buy a brand of protein drink at Costco called Pure Protein because it's some of the lowest in calorie and sugar content I've found. I put cucumbers in my water even though I'm not big on water flavor. Supposedly this jump starts your metabolism, but I haven't seen the research on it. I know that I burned 16 lbs faster that way however with the exercise and diet I was already using.

My biggest success this week has been watermelon. I cut up a whole one and munch on it all week. It's very filling and low in calories. Like 70 cal for a whole cup. I lost 4 lbs this last week, woo! It is some sugar, but it's not processed.

I lost over 120 lbs once. I gained it all back because I gave up when undergoing some major stress. I know it can be done with our hard work and courage!

Good luck!

seltzermint555

Not the answer you're looking for here, but I refuse to eat in the office, period. Obviously that is not the right solution for everyone. I eat breakfast before work and go home for lunch (and once a week out) but never eat anything at my desk or even in the building. For me it's too easy to bring a granola bar in, put it in my desk, and then start feeling "hmm maybe snack time?" at 9 am when I am not truly hungry. So that's the basis for my choice. That would definitely change if I didn't live close enough to eat at home and/or had a shorter lunch break than a full hour.

ew_david

skatardrummer wrote: »

The problem with snackey foods like granola and even protein bars, they are very high in carbs or sugar, and when you don't burn carbs as energy, they actually cause excess fat storage. It's really bad for us who sit all day and aren't burning it. With that said, the body still needs carbs because the brain runs on glucose...but too much isn't good for us either. Look for things low in processed sugars and carbs. Veggies are great, watermelon, berries, are all some of the best according to the nutritionist. I also eat Hard Boiled eggs in the morning, but only 1-2 a day. Unsalted nuts in small amounts. Watch your dipping sauces too. I found out I needed to stop eating my salads with ranch...even light ranch. It was costing me way too many calories. I also buy a brand of protein drink at Costco called Pure Protein because it's some of the lowest in calorie and sugar content I've found. I put cucumbers in my water even though I'm not big on water flavor. Supposedly this jump starts your metabolism, but I haven't seen the research on it. I know that I burned 16 lbs faster that way however with the exercise and diet I was already using.

My biggest success this week has been watermelon. I cut up a whole one and munch on it all week. It's very filling and low in calories. Like 70 cal for a whole cup. I lost 4 lbs this last week, woo! It is some sugar, but it's not processed.

I lost over 120 lbs once. I gained it all back because I gave up when undergoing some major stress. I know it can be done with our hard work and courage!

Good luck!

Too much of ANY food causes excess fat storage, not just carbs. Snacks high in carbs tend not to have lasting satiety, which leads to eating more food until one is satiated, which leads to excess calories, which leads to weight gain.

bluestocking06

I started adding protein powder and flax seed to my morning yogurt/oatmeal to up my protein intake. I also really like beef/turkey jerky as something high in protein to snack on that works well in my desk.

kms234

I found this AMAZING jalapeno dip recipe so I've been making that and bringing carrots and celery to dip. Berries, hard boiled eggs, beef jerky, greey yogurt with PB powder, string cheese, roasted pepitas and other nuts/seeds.

lilithsrose

Make chia pudding the night before and then just grab-and-go in the morning. There are tons of easy recipes for chia pudding. It will help you get more fiber and protein. Prepping hard-boiled eggs for the week is a good idea too. Flavored tuna pouches are healthy and convenient.

Foodfavor

Last night I made red peppers stuffed with meat and veg, Lots of protein and little fat. Half a stuffed pepper would be a very quick convenient snack. Just throw it in the microwave for a minute and you are good to go:)

DamieBird

What would you eat if you weren't in the office? If you have access to a fridge and microwave (?) there aren't a lot of reasons why you can't eat the same thing in the office as you do at home. If may require some meal prep. but you can have a nice breakfast/lunch/snack without going to the things you're beginning to find boring. I make breakfast at home, and then bring it to the office to eat an hour or so into my workday. On Friday I had a bacon egg scramble with avocado and cheese and a bowl full of berries. When I was ready to eat, I just popped it into the microwave to reheat the eggs. Today, I had an bacon egg muffin the same way. Make it at home, bring it in, 30 second to reheat when I'm ready for breakfast.

I eat lunch at home, but if you need something easy to eat at your desk, the same principle applies. You could have anything you wanted (although I don't recommend reheating fish in the office)! For snacks, I usually keep some greek yogurt or cheese sticks in the fridge at work and bring in some fruit about once a week (things that will keep like oranges or bananas).

janejellyroll

skatardrummer wrote: »

The problem with snackey foods like granola and even protein bars, they are very high in carbs or sugar, and when you don't burn carbs as energy, they actually cause excess fat storage. It's really bad for us who sit all day and aren't burning it. With that said, the body still needs carbs because the brain runs on glucose...but too much isn't good for us either. Look for things low in processed sugars and carbs. Veggies are great, watermelon, berries, are all some of the best according to the nutritionist. I also eat Hard Boiled eggs in the morning, but only 1-2 a day. Unsalted nuts in small amounts. Watch your dipping sauces too. I found out I needed to stop eating my salads with ranch...even light ranch. It was costing me way too many calories. I also buy a brand of protein drink at Costco called Pure Protein because it's some of the lowest in calorie and sugar content I've found. I put cucumbers in my water even though I'm not big on water flavor. Supposedly this jump starts your metabolism, but I haven't seen the research on it. I know that I burned 16 lbs faster that way however with the exercise and diet I was already using.

My biggest success this week has been watermelon. I cut up a whole one and munch on it all week. It's very filling and low in calories. Like 70 cal for a whole cup. I lost 4 lbs this last week, woo! It is some sugar, but it's not processed.

I lost over 120 lbs once. I gained it all back because I gave up when undergoing some major stress. I know it can be done with our hard work and courage!

Good luck!

Any energy from food that you don't burn off is going to be stored as fat. This isn't particular to carbohydrates.

lucys1225

I go to the gym before work so when I get in I have "mexican" cauliflower rice mixed with shredded chicken for my snack.